Is the U.S. economy hot, cooling or somewhere in between?

President Donald Trump and his acolytes say the U.S. economy is humming, citing rising stock markets, big promised corporate and foreign direct investments and lower gasoline prices.

“We have the hottest country on Earth. We have the hottest economy on Earth,” Trump said earlier this month.

“We have hundreds of billions of dollars falling in from tariffs … One year ago, we were dead as a door nail. Now, we have the hottest country,” Trump continued.

The White House touts $8.7 trillion in announced or promised U.S. investments since Trump took office in January from corporate titans such as Apple, NVDIA and IBM, as well as countries such as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Qatar.

Trump’s always-vociferous critics co

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